Developing autonomy for first year english major students at a university in vinh through writing portfolio

This research is implemented with the purpose of investigating the use of portfolio writing to enhance the first-year students’ learning autonomy in writing in particular and in their st

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -

ĐOÀN THỊ NGỌC MAI

DEVELOPING AUTONOMY FOR FIRST-YEAR

ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VINH

THROUGH WRITING PORTFOLIO

(Phát triển tính tự học của sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành tiếng anh tại

một trường đại học ở Vinh thông qua hoạt động viết Portfolio)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-oOo -

ĐOÀN THỊ NGỌC MAI

DEVELOPING AUTONOMY FOR FIRST-YEAR

ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT A UNIVERSITY IN VINH

THROUGH WRITING PORTFOLIO

(Phát triển tính tự học của sinh viên năm thứ nhất chuyên ngành tiếng anh tại

một trường đại học ở Vinh thông qua hoạt động viết Portfolio)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Huong

Hanoi - 2019

Hanoi, 2019 Student’s signature

Đoàn Thị Ngọc Mai

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To begin with, I would like to send my profound gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Huong for her detailed and precise guidance and tremendous support

Secondly, I would also like to thank my beloved students for their participation

in my action research Without their enthusiasm, the research could not be completed

Additionally, I want to send my sincere thanks to the university steering committee and my colleagues They are such a great help to me during the process of research implementation They not only give me useful advice but also encourage me

to complete the research

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my husband and my family for their wholehearted support

ABSTRACT

Developing and fostering students’ learning autonomy is placed importance for college students since learning autonomy not only helps them to be more independent and effective in their studying but also partly lay some bricks on the path of life-long learning for students This research is implemented with the purpose of investigating the use of portfolio writing to enhance the first-year students’ learning autonomy in writing in particular and in their studying in general The research is undertaken as an action research which employs the qualitative method including surveys, interviews and teaching journals

The outcome of the research indicates that most of the students find the use of portfolio writing useful for their learning autonomy A majority of them has learnt how

to stick on the requirements of the assignments during their writing and be more responsible for their study Furthermore, they have become more critical on the knowledge and information they encountered and started to understand their strengths and weaknesses to find out their own suitable learning style However, they are still struggling with some essential skills such as time management skills Therefore, most

of them want a better schedule for the writing course Even though students favor and find the use of portfolio writing effective, there is a call for further studies to have a bigger and more detailed picture of the usefulness of portfolio writing before it is implemented officially in colleges

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Scope of the study Error! Bookmark not defined 1.4 Significance of the study 2

1.5 Methods of the study 2

1.6 Structure of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Learner autonomy 4

2.1.1 Definitions of learner autonomy 4

2.1.2 The importance of learner autonomy in language learning 7

2.1.3 Components of learner autonomy 7

2.1.4 Some ways to enhance learner autonomy .11

2.2 Portfolio writing 12

2.2.1 Definition of portfolio and portfolio writing 12

2.2.2 The role of portfolio writing 13

2.3 Related studies 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16

3.1 Research method 16

3.2 Research design 17

3.3 Settings and participants 23

3.4 Data collection instruments 24

3.4.1 Questionnaire Error! Bookmark not defined

3.4.2 Interviews Error! Bookmark not defined

3.5 Data analysis 26

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 28

4.1 Effects of portfolio writing on the students’ learning management 28

4.2 Effects of portfolio writing on the students’ learning strategies 37

4.3 Effects of portfolio writing on the students’ learning content 45

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 47

5.1 Major findings of the study 47

5.2 Reflection 48

5.3 Pedagogical suggestions 49

5.4 Suggestions for further studies 50

5.5 Limitations of the study 50

REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES I

I SYLLABUS I

II CHECKLIST FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT, PEER REVIEW AND REFLECTION IX III QUESTIONNAIRE XI

IV INTERVIEWS XVI III TEACHING JOURNAL AND STUDENTS’ WRITING EXTRACTS XXXI

strategies 37 Table 5: Students’ opinions on the effect of portfolio writing on their metacognitive strategies 42 Table 6: Students’ opinions on the effect of portfolio writing on their learning content 45

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents a general overview on the rationale, aims and objectives, research questions, significance of the study In addition, the chosen research methods and the structure of the study are also provided

1.1 Rationale of the study

In the past few decades, learners’ autonomy has become a highly – concerned issue that generated heated debates in the educational forums In a context where the necessity of learning and knowledge has been widely acknowledged and lifelong learning is a global imperative, it is understandable why the importance of learners’ autonomy is gaining even more significance According to Benson and Voller (1997: 56), ―learning is more effective when learners are active in the learning process, assuming responsibility for their learning and participating in the decisions which affect it‖ Furthermore, autonomous learning becomes increasingly necessary to university students as Malcolm and Rindfleisch (2003:2) pointed out in their study

―students arrive at university with the potential to be autonomous in their learning‖ Enhancing students’ autonomous learning is also a matter of concern to not only the researcher in particular but also a university in Vinh in general since from my researcher’s observation, in the traditional teaching context of Vietnam, Vietnamese students tend to be passive in their learning Realizing that writing a portfolio can be one of the most effective ways to help students enhance their autonomous learning urged and inspired the researcher to implement the action research ―Developing autonomy for first- year English major students at a university in Vinh through Portfolio Writing Activity‖ For the purpose of research ethics, the university would be named ―X‖

1.2 Aims of the study

The main aim of the study is investigating the extent to which portfolio writing implementation helps students raise their learning autonomy not only in writing but also in their learning

1.3 Scope of the study

The study focuses on three dimensions of learner autonomy, including learning management, learning strategies and content The study was carried out as an action research in an undergraduate writing class at a university in Vietnam where the researcher was the teacher

The objective of the paper can be summarized into a research question as below:

To what extent does the use of portfolio writing enhance the first-year

students’ learning autonomy at Foreign Language Department, in University X?

1.4 Significance of the study

As one of the pioneering studies on developing learners’ autonomy via portfolio writing in that university, the paper would benefit related populations including English teachers and policymakers there This study would provide useful information for policymakers and teachers to consider applying portfolio writing in the curriculum for the first-year students

Furthermore, the study would be a reliable reference to other researchers who share the same interest in developing learners’ autonomy Further research would be carried out after limitations of this study are considered

1.5 Methods of the study

The paper is an action research which employs both qualitative and quantitative methods Specifically, the first-year class which the researcher is teaching currently would join the implementation of portfolio writing which would be integrated as home-

assigned task in the current curriculum of the class Each week, the students would write a reflection about portfolio implementation and their learning autonomy The students’ reflections would be collected at the end of the semester A survey and interviews would be made to collect the students’ opinions toward the influence of portfolio writing on their learning autonomy

1.6 Structure of the thesis

The study includes five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 sketches the overall picture of the whole study The rationale, aims and objectives, significance and methods of the research are presented

Chapter 2 serves as the theoretical frame for the study Key terms such as portfolio and learners’ autonomy would be explained Furthermore, the critical reviews of the related studies are conducted

Chapter 3 provides the methodology to carry out the paper Specifically, the research method, the participants and instruments, data collection procedure are put forward

Chapter 4 consists of findings and discussion of the paper which provides the detailed outcome of the data analysis procedure

Chapter 5 provides the summary of the research outcome, the pedagogical suggestions, the limitation of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides background for the study Key terms such as “learning autonomy”, “portfolio writing” and so on are adequately explained Also, the research gives the brief review of related studies

2.1 Learner autonomy

2.1.1 Definitions of learner autonomy

The concept of autonomy has been mentioned a lot over the past few years and has become a heated topic for discussion recently in Vietnam Many theorists and scholars define autonomy in many different ways, which makes the results in this field quite immense This study, however, only reviews the literature concerning autonomy in studying English as the second language

One of the earliest advocates of autonomy in language teaching, Holec (1981:7), defines autonomy as ―the ability to take charge of one’s own learning‖ According to this author, autonomous learners understand the purpose of their learning, share in the setting of learning goals, take initiatives in planning and executing learning activities, and regularly review their learning and evaluate its effectiveness From this point of view, autonomy is understood to involve activities and attitudes that students possess, and then develop to various degrees, among which are learning strategies There is also

a broad agreement among many other scholars to Holec’s ideas Nunan (1997:193) and Benson (2001:56) share the same idea that autonomy implies a capacity to exercise over one’s own learning

Dickinson (1987) states that autonomy is a ―situation in which the learner is totally responsible for all of the decisions concerned with his or her learning and implementation of those decisions.‖ From this perspective, being an autonomous

learner requires responsibility for planning and organizing his/her learning and being able to evaluate his/her learning process and adapting modification if needed Also, the role of language teacher would change from a teacher to an information provider, counselor or assessor According to Richards and Schmidt (2010:297), this term is defined as ―the principle that learners should be encouraged to assume a maximum amount of responsibility for what they learn and how they learn it.‖

According to Freire (1997: 23), autonomy enables learners to get faculty and freedom to choose the more fitting skills and knowledge taught to him or her Nonetheless, Freire also mentions that teachers’ role should not be taken for granted since they not only provide knowledge but also give chances to learners to build their own knowledge

According to Leni Dam (1990, cited in Gathercole, 1990:16) a learner can only

be defined as an autonomous learner when they independently set goals and aims, select materials, organize useful tasks and be able to evaluate one's their own progress

Boud (1988:16) states that when leaners become autonomous, they will have an active role in their own development They can collect ideas and participate in various learning opportunities

Nunan(1997:193) states that ―the fully autonomous learner operates independently of classroom, teacher, or textbooks.‖ In contrast, Palfreyman (2003: 28) asserts, ―learner autonomy does not mean avoiding any reliance on sources of help around you‖ but ―means being aware of these sources and what they have to offer in different situations.‖ For example, if students rely on their teachers for explaining of

new words, it is teacher dependence However, if a student asks his/ her teacher to

validate his/her own distinction of several synonyms after he/ she already looks up the dictionary and other sources of reference, it is a sign of learner autonomy In this case, the student has drawn his/ her teacher into his/ her own learning agenda, effectively using the teacher as a source of help

Notably, autonomy also can be though as a social process and a learning process regarding knowledge construction and power redistribution as well as participants’ roles A numerous synonyms of autonomy from this viewpoint are given by scholars such as ―independence‖ (Sheerin, 1991:6), ―language awareness‖ (Lier, 1996:38),

―self-direction‖ (Candy, 1991:54), and ―andragogy‖ (Knowles, 1980:68)

Furthermore, there have been a considerable number of debates between linguists and educationalists over what autonomy is According to Little (1991: 17), learning autonomy is ―essentially a matter of the learner’s psychological relation to the process and content of learning…a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision-making, and independent action‖ This viewpoint is also favored by Holec (1981:7) since he also sees that autonomy come regarding learners’ willingness and ability to control their own learning

Furthermore, Boud (1988), Kohonen (1992) and Knowles (1975) share the same opinion that an autonomous learner will be active in the learning process and creating learning opportunities for themselves They will not act only upon the stimuli of their teachers According to McDevitt (1997:27), ―the end product of education is an independent learner‖ He also emphasizes that the ultimate goal of education is that learners’ independence should be cultivated Littlewood (1996), Nunan (1997) and Breen (1984) state that learners should acquire autonomy to some extent to become effective language users

In short, the study adopts the definition of autonomy set forth by Holec (1981:7)

in which autonomy is viewed as ―the ability to take charge of one’s own learning‖ The characteristics of autonomous learners include: understanding the purpose of their learning, sharing in the setting of learning goals, taking initiatives in planning and executing learning activities, and regularly reviewing their learning and evaluating its effectiveness

2.1.2 The importance of learner autonomy in language learning

According to Scharle and Szabo (2000:4), ―success in learning very much depends on learners having a responsible attitude‖ Responsibility for self-learning and development is considered as the key for studying well Even though teachers try to provide knowledge and are willing to help students to gain essential skills, students will not learn if they themselves do not want to learn Furthermore, in the language learning context, lessons in schools are not enough to equip students to communicate effectively in all daily life and work situation Therefore, students must be autonomous

in their study and self-taught in their lives

2.1.3 Components of learner autonomy

According to Benson (2011:56), learner autonomy composes of three dimensions, namely controlling over learning management, learning strategies and learning content Specifically, learning management is observable behaviors involved

in planning, organization and evaluation of learning Learning strategies comprises of cognitive and metacognitive processes Learning content is the what and why of language learning The dimensions are considered interdependent

2.1.3.1 Controlling over learning management

This dimension of learner autonomy refers to the cognitive and attitudinal factors involved in the process of planning, organization and assessing Students are oriented to involve directly in the planning of strategies and sources to assist them to get their goals Also, students should assure that they will meet the deadline of schedule Afterall, they are required to self-assess their processes to withdraw experience At the planning stage, also known as pre-planning (Wenden, 1998:27), learners identify their objectives and determine how they will achieve them Planning, however, may also go on while a task is being performed This is called planning-in-

action Here, learners may change their objectives and reconsider the ways in which they will go about achieving them At the monitoring stage, language learners act as participant observers or overseers of their language learning and asking themselves,

"How am I doing? Am I having difficulties with this task?", and so on Finally, when learners evaluate, they do so in terms of the outcome of their attempt to use a certain strategy According to Wenden (1998:28), evaluating involves three steps: 1) learners examine the outcome of their attempts to learn; 2) they access the criteria they will use

to judge it; and 3) they apply it

2.1.3.2 Controlling over learning strategies

2.1.3.2.1 Cognitive Strategies

According to O'Malley and Chamot (1990:44), cognitive strategies 'operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning' Learners may use any or all of the following cognitive strategies (Cook, 1993:114-115):

● repetition, when imitating others' speech;

● resourcing, i.e., having recourse to dictionaries and other materials;

● translation, that is, using their mother tongue as a basis for understanding and/or producing the target language;

● note-taking;

● deduction, i.e., conscious application of L2 rules;

● contextualization, when embedding a word or phrase in a meaningful sequence;

● transfer, that is, using knowledge acquired in the L1 to remember and understand facts and sequences in the L2;

● inferencing when matching an unfamiliar word against available information (a new word etc.);

● question for clarification, when asking the teacher to explain, etc

Moreover, as defined by Oxford (1990:39), cognitive strategies can be

diagramed as below:

Figure 1: The classification of cognitive strategies from Oxford (1990:39)

Both the definitions share some same features of cognitive strategies However, this

study adopts the second definition given by Oxford as the compass for the study

because it offers more detailed features To make the definition more fit into the study,

some subcategories of cognitive related to writing would be removed For example,

―formally practicing with sounds‖ does not suit the scope of the study because this

research does not focus on students’ speaking skills Furthermore, some advanced

skills such as ―taking note‖ or ―highlighting‖ would not be focused much since those skills are way above the students’ levels

2.1.3.2.2 Metacognitive Strategies

According to Wenden (1998:34), ―metacognitive knowledge includes all facts learners acquire about their own cognitive processes as they are applied and used to gain knowledge and acquire skills in varied situations‖ Metacognitive strategies are skills used for planning, monitoring, and evaluating the learning activity; ―they are strategies about learning rather than learning strategies themselves‖ (Cook, 1993: 114) Here are some of these strategies:

● directed attention, when deciding in advance to concentrate on general aspects of a task;

● selective attention, paying attention to specific aspects of a task;

● self-monitoring, i.e., checking one's performance as one speaks;

● self-evaluation, i.e., appraising one's performance in relation to one's own standards;

● self - reinforcement, rewarding oneself for success

The definition given by Cook would be adopted in this study

2.1.3.3 Controlling over learning content

The last dimension of learner autonomy is controlling over learning content, which refers to the ―what‖ and ―why‖ of learning According to Benson (2001:99), controlling over the language content has strong social and political accent He states that:

Control over the content requires, more than any other aspect of autonomy that teachers and education authorities create situational contexts in which freedom of learning is encouraged and rewarded It also requires that learners develop their capacity to participate in social in social interactions concerning their learning, to negotiate for the right to self-determine its broad direction and ultimately to participate in the transformation of educational structures

Control over the content requires, more than any other aspect of autonomy that teachers and education authorities create situational contexts in which freedom of students to choose learning content would be set Specifically, it refers to who decides what to learn and how to learn However, in the school setting, the person who makes a decision on what to learn is the school policy makers and teachers Students have little right on ―control over methodological aspect of learning‖ (Ikonen, 2013) So, Benson (2011) states that in this dimension, autonomy is reduced to choosing a methodology for the particular goals and contents This is called reactive autonomy according to Littlewood (quoted in Benson, 2001:99):

This kind which does not create its own directions but, once a direction has been initiated, enables learners to organize their resources autonomously in order to reach their goal It is the kind of autonomy that causes learners to learn vocabulary without being pushed, to take the initiative to do past examination papers or to organize study groups to complete an assignment

Notably, many authors only accept the outcome which is called proactive autonomy by Littlewood (quoted in Benson, 2001:99) This type of autonomy determines objectives, selects methods and evaluates what has been learned Also, it sets directions Nevertheless, Benson (2001:100) states that reactive autonomy is a step

―toward proactive autonomy‖ or ―as a goal on its own‖

2.1.4 Some ways to enhance learner autonomy

According to Dickinson (1992: 2), teachers should equip their learners with appropriate knowledge and tools in order to reach autonomy In other words, teachers should help the learners to expose to chances to be independent in their learnings Some methods are listed as follows:

 Encouraging independence in learning by the teacher displaying full approval and encouragement towards learners becoming more responsible of their learning

 Providing learners opportunities to practice independent learning

 Helping learners to perceive the language as a system

 Helping learners to develop their learning strategies so that they can practice their independence

 Teachers can share knowledge they already possess about the language in order

to make students more aware of what to anticipate from language learning Therefore, it can be inferred that in order to successfully encourage learners to become more independent in their learning, teachers should redefine their role within language education (Hill, 1994:214) However, on the other hand, it may be difficult for teachers to be able to achieve mainly because they themselves lack the knowledge

of making the transition of being the purveyor of knowledge to a manager of learning resources (Sheerin, 1997, cited in Benson & Voller, 1997:63)

2.2 Portfolio writing

2.2.1 Definition of portfolio and portfolio writing

Learning portfolio is a compile of students’ work or products in a critically reflective process The concept of the student portfolio has been widely known and implemented for some time in academic fields such as writing, communications, and the fine arts Another popular application has been to provide a device for demonstrating the value of experiential learning or assessing credit for prior learning Some portfolios are shared by students and faculty advisors for the purpose of academic and career advising Furthermore, portfolio can be used in business and teacher education to supply a mechanism to present the skills achieved

O’Malley and Pierce (1996: 34) stated the basic elements of a portfolio despite the fact that they support the argument that there is hardly a definition of portfolio for every context According to them, the essential elements of a portfolio comprise of samples of learner work, leaner self-assessment and evaluation criteria The sample

could be a variety of work such as writing, audio, video, experiments and so on However, all the collections should be organized systematically and goal-oriented Furthermore, the process of portfolio making should include evaluating of leaners’ progress More importantly, it is emphasized that leaners should understand thoroughly the assessment criteria Also, it is noted that leaners can also be engaged in discussing criteria and in goal setting

In this paper, the scope of the study is only portfolio used for the writing course for the first-year students The writing portfolio would be a collection of the students’ topic-based compositions which each includes two versions The second version is the modified one of the first one after the students got peers’ comments on the first one

2.2.2 The role of portfolio writing

Most commonly, students’ writing portfolios have been used to collect and evaluate students’ work at key points in their progress, usually at the end of an academic endeavor Campbell, Melenyzer, Nettles, and Wyman (2000:14)—writing about portfolios with ―a focus on product‖ for the purpose of certification in teacher education—make the strong point that in a well-managed portfolio students should realize that their effort is not simply to construct ―a scrapbook of college course assignments and memorabilia‖ (p 2) Instead, a learning portfolio in general and a writing portfolio in particular should stress that the product is also a process, an

―organized documentation of growth and achievement that provides tangible evidence

of the attainment of professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions Each portfolio is goal-driven, original, and reflective‖ (p 13) Portfolio writing enables students to have

a critical thinking about their learning and making sense of their learning as the whole process This leads students to explore and understand what, how and why they should learn

2.3 Related studies

Numerous studies have been carried out to find out the effects of portfolio on learning autonomy in teaching and learning languages In their experimental research, Khodadady and Khodabakhshzade (2012: 518) evaluated the effect of portfolio and self- assessment on writing ability and autonomy According to them, portfolio assessment and self-assessment improve not only the students’ writing ability but also autonomy in writing Moreover, they found that the regular implementation of the self-assessment checklist in and out class influences the students positively Specifically, it helps to raise the students’ ―sense of independency‖ Also, Suwaed (2018) investigated the perception of EFL second-year students of using portfolio assessments in the writing classroom His research pointed out that the students have a positive attitude to the portfolio writing as it helps them to ―improve writing skills‖, ―have a sense of achievement‖ and ―foster learning autonomy‖ Besides, he mentioned some difficulties the students had during the portfolio writing Most of the second year students in that studies faced work overloading as well as vocabulary and content insufficiency during writing portfolio Notably, in his research, he found out that the students ―prefer portfolio assessment rather pen-and-paper tests

Furthermore, Khoosf & Khoosravani (2014:36) investigated the use of email portfolio to enhance EFL learner’s autonomy The outcome of their research proves that electronic portfolio largely encourages the students to participate more in the evaluation process Electronic portfolios also help to ―connect learning, assessment and instruction in a new way‖ Thanks to electronic portfolios, students are able to be aware of the whole picture of their learning which includes ―learning strategies‖,

―learning process‖ and ―self-directed learning‖

In Vietnam’s ESL context, there have been some pioneering studies investigating into the use of portfolios to promote learners’ autonomy For example, in

their studies, Duong and Seepho (2017) tried to construct a portfolio-based model for developing learner autonomy for EFL learners However, this model uses a general portfolio, not a writing portfolio specifically Furthermore, Phung and Dang (2016) explored the use of e-portfolio on leaner autonomy but in terms of speaking class Therefore, there have been a lack of investigating of exploiting a writing portfolio for promoting learner autonomy in Vietnam It is hoped that this action research would be one of the first studies to explore the use of writing portfolio for helping higher education students to achieve leaner autonomy

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter puts forward the description of the methods used in the paper to examine the effects of portfolio writing on the first-year students at Foreign Language Department

3.1 Research method

The paper is carried out as an action research Specifically, portfolio writing is imposed to the first-year writing curriculum to observe the impact of the portfolio on students’ learning autonomy The independent factor is portfolio writing The dependent factor is students’ learning autonomy According to Kemmis and Mctaggert (1988), action research is the path that offers the best solution in the professional context since it provides the essential steps to take actions regarding helping students to become autonomous learners through ―observing, reflecting, planning and applying in

a spiral action of permanent reflection to improve practice‖ (p.23) This helps the researcher to observe the changes of the students, the benefits of the portfolio to students Also, it exposes the real problems both the researcher and students encounter during the implementation of portfolio writing in the class In this research, portfolio writing is applied in the existing writing class taught by the researcher The class includes 40 first- year students who major in English The portfolio is considered as the home-assigned task in the writing course

The research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, including questionnaire, interview, and teaching journal During the implementation of portfolio writing, the researcher noted down the journal after carrying out the portfolio activity However, the teaching journal is considered as the reference to compare and contrast with the results from the questionnaire and interviews The questionnaire and interviews were delivered after the completion of the writing course The Likert-scale questionnaire which includes 19 questions were given to the students to investigate their opinions on how portfolio writing helped them to enhance their learner autonomy

The questionnaire (see Appendix III) was designed based on three dimensions of learner autonomy mentioned in Literature review The three dimensions are controlling over the learning management, learning strategies and learning content The interviews were coded and categorized to compare and contrast with the data collected from the questionnaire and the teaching journal

3.2 Research design

The chosen research approach for this paper was action research As aforementioned in the research methodology, action research is the most suitable for the paper since it provides the essential steps to take actions through ―observing, reflecting, planning and applying in a spiral action of permanent reflection to improve practice‖(Kemmis, McTaggart and Retallic, 2004:2) According to MacIsaac (1995:15), there are four steps in a typical action research: plan, act, observe and reflect This paper followed these four steps and took place in the writing class at University X, Vinh from September to December 2018

Step 1: Planning (Before the semester)

● Identify a problem: Witnessing the low level of learning autonomy of the

students in university, especially the first-year students, the researcher made a decision to integrate the portfolio writing as a trial activity in the current writing program to enhance the students’ learning autonomy The effects of portfolio writing would be evaluated to see if it benefits students and help them to

improve their learning autonomy or not

● Develop a plan of action: Portfolio objectives, requirements, instructions,

checklist and theme-based topic lists are made to implement the portfolio writing in the class The general objectives and instructions were succinct so that the students would easily grasp the whole process of portfolio writing The theme-based topics were prepared Most of the topics are chosen from the

suggested topics in the textbook Some were modified to suit Vietnam context and be interesting enough to stimulate the students Furthermore, the checklist for writing was also copied from the textbook The questions for the students’

reflection were also prepared

Also, the timeline for the portfolio writing was drawn up The portfolio writing would be an integrated task into the current curriculum It would be considered

as a home-assigned task (see Appendix I for further details)

Table 1: The topic of each week in the writing course

Time Theme Home assignment

Week 1 Introduction

to the course Requirement -Assignment

Week 3

Unit 2

Color - Imagine that you are designing a new restaurant

Decide what kind of restaurant it is What colors for the restaurant, the sign, the walls, the plates, the napkins? Why?

-Imagine you are going to design a library for children What colors would you use for the tables and shelves, for the walls, and for a reading area?

- Think about the color of your bedroom or living room How does the color make you feel? Would you like to change the color? Why?

- Think of a company or service that you are familiar with What color does it use for its product and advertising? Do you think the company is using color psychology? How?

- Think of a well-known restaurant, clothing store,

department store or a company such as an airline How does the company use color in their advertising or inside their place of business? How do the colors make you feel?

Week 4

Unit 3

Courtesy - I’m traveling to the United States for the first time

What do you know about manners in the U.S.? What tips do you have about being polite?

- I’m traveling to Vietnam for the first time What do you know about manners in Vietnam? What tips do you have about being polite there?

- I think that people today are very rude I’m the father

of two young boys, ages five and ten How can I teach

my sons to be polite?

- What have you learned about etiquette in different cultures? Did you learn this from traveling or living in another country, or by meeting people from other cultures? Give examples

- Do you think that people are naturally polite? Or do they learn to be polite? Explain

Week 5-6

Unit 4

Games - Professional athletes earn very high salaries Do you

think their salaries are too high? Why or why not?

- Coaches and sports officials including referees and judges are responsible for making sure that athletes play by the rules In informal games, there is no referee, judge or coach How do players decide what is far?

- In professional sports, when a player does something that makes the competition unfair, officials often make the player pay a large amount of money, called a fine

Do you think that a large fine is a good way to help make sports fair? Why or why not?

- What makes a competition unfair?

Week 7

Unit 5

Family ties - What qualities do you have that can help you when

working with a group of people?

- What kind of people do you think can build a successful family business?

- What advice would you give to someone who was thinking of starting a business?

- Write a personal letter to a friend about a new family business you create Your letter will include

information about your new business and what jobs the members of your family will have

Week 8 Mid-term test

Week 9

Unit 6

Self- reliance - Have you ever been frustrated by technology?

Describe what happened

- Do you prefer to interact with people or with service machines? Why?

self Think of a new type of selfself service technology What are the benefits of this technology? What are the disadvantages or problems?

- How do you think self-service technology could be improved so that people don’t get frustrated?

- Describe a process done by a machine or a person Week 10

Unit 7

Buy or Reuse - What items (clothing, electronics, sports equipment)

have you recently thrown away? Could the items be repaired? Why or why not? Did you replace them with something new?

-Do you think recycling is important? What kinds of things do you recycle?

- Think of something that is still useful, but that you no longer want What can you do with that item instead of throwing it away?

-What are some of the advantages of buying new things instead of fixing old things? Discuss different items and the advantages of buying the items new

- Do you think it is better to save and wear old clothing

or to buy new, trendy clothes? Why

- What kinds of things do you throw away? What habits could you change to throw away less? Can you think of new ways to use these things?

Week 11

Unit 8

Stories Write a short story that includes a main character,

setting, conflict and resolution Week 12

Unit 9

Numbers - What was your experience of mathematics in school?

Was it positive or negative? Explain

- Do people leave tips in restaurant in your country? How much do they tip? What other services do people give tips for?

-What kinds of things that involve math do you think every adult should know how to do? For example, figuring out the correct tip in a restaurant

- Some people have a natural ability in math, while other people struggle with it Why do you think some people are better at math than others?

- Write about your personal experience learning math Week 13

Unit 10

Global health - Imagine that an epidemic spread quickly and becomes

a global pandemic What kinds of problems do you think there might be for government and doctors?

- The flu can spread rapidly in schools and cause teachers and children to become sick What can a school do to prevent the spread of the flu?

- Do you think that experts can learn useful information about human behavior by studying how people behave when they play simulation games? Why or why not?

- Write a definition paragraph about an illness

Week 14 Review Portfolio writing: Free topics

Week 15 End- of -term test

Step 2: Action (During the semester)

In this step, portfolio writing was carried out in the class The writing course lasts 15 weeks Each week, a theme and one type of writing/writing skills are covered Each week the students would be required to choose a topic from the theme-based topic lists of that week and write about it For example, on week 2, the big theme is

―Trends‖ and the small topics for writing are ―Describe a trend that interests you and explain why it is popular‖ and ―Write about a popular social networking site/ popular trend in technology/ music/ book/ movie in your country‖ The students could choose one of those topics and write about it Notably, the students were reminded and handed out the learning outcomes and the checklists at the beginning of each lesson so that they would focus better and know what they have to achieve in that lesson The textbook is also learner-centered when the checklist of what students can do is put at the end of the lesson After completing the first version of their weekly writing in the portfolio, the students were required to swap their writing with one peer in the class,

then read and give comments to their peer’s writing Based on their peers’ comments, the students were required to write the second version of their piece of writing Afterwards, they had to submit their second version to the researcher The researcher would comment on the students’ second version and give it back to them The third version is optional After all, the students were required to write a reflection based on the questions prepared by the teacher The list of the questions can be seen in Appendix

be used as a useful source for the researcher to look into the process of what and how

students enhance their learning autonomy After the final term test, the survey was

delivered to the students after the final term test To avoid any misunderstanding, the research topic and the instruction were adequately explained to the students Noticeably, the researcher emphasized that the students’ personal information was guaranteed to be confidential Therefore, the students could express their opinions freely Three days after the questionnaire were collected; the interviews were carried out in Vietnamese, which enables the students to easily express themselves and what

they concern about Also, the researcher confirmed again the confidentiality of the interviewees’ personal information Notably, during the interviews, additional questions were asked to gather more information

Step 4: Reflection

In this last step, the collected data were processed The interviews were transcribed and translated into English to serve as a source of reference for the outcome collected from the survey The data would be analyzed according to the three dimensions of learner autonomy, i.e controlling over the learning management, learning strategies and learning content Additionally, the implementation of portfolio writing would be assessed Shortcomings would be pointed out and recommendations would be made to make portfolio writing more effective in enhancing the students’ learner autonomy

3.3 Settings and participants

The research is conducted in university X in Vinh, one of the most prestigious universities not only in the central regions but also nationwide To get admission to the Foreign Language Department of the university, the students need to take an entrance exam which includes math, English and literature Normally, the admission English score is quite high in the range of intermediate level The first-year writing program focuses on developing general language skills and critical thinking skills The official textbook currently used in the writing class is ―Q: skills for success - Reading and Writing 2‖

40 first-year students participated in the study Specifically, they are all the students in the class the researcher is teaching The selection of the first-year students was on purpose First of all, the first-year students just finished high school where learning autonomy is not placed high Traditionally, high school students are supervised carefully by both their teachers and parents to assure that they focus on their studies and understand the lessons However, university environment allows them to be

free from the supervision of their parents Also, their lecturers will not supervise them

as much as their high school teachers They are required to start managing their own learning schedule and their performance Also, they need to read/ investigate more about what they learn beyond the scope of their textbook From my observation during some years teaching in universities, the first-year students seem to have no or little learning autonomy in comparison to the senior ones Therefore, it seems that the first-year students are the most suitable participants for this study

3.4 Data collection instruments

A questionnaire and interviews are fully employed for both quantitative and qualitative data collection so that the sufficient and valid data would be obtained for the paper Besides, the researcher’s teaching journal would be used as the useful reference to compare with the survey and interviews

3.4.1 Questionnaire

A questionnaire was designed to collect the opinions of the participants toward portfolio writing (see Appendix III) Based on the measurements presented in David Dixon’s research (2011: 315), the survey was adapted and redesigned by the researcher

to suit the context of the study Specifically, the questionnaire was divided into three main parts to investigate the students’ opinions regarding the three components of learning autonomy, namely learning management, learning strategies and learning content

 Learning managements: Question 1 - 7

 Learning strategies: Question 8 – 17

 Learning content: Question 18-19

The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to avoid any possibility of the students’ misunderstanding Some first lines served as the introduction about the purpose of the paper, the confirmation of personal information confidentiality and the

instruction to do the survey The next section of the questionnaire is a set of 19 ended questions to investigate the students’ opinions about portfolio writing’s effect on their learning autonomy Each question offered five options: strongly agree, agree, no opinion, disagree and strongly disagree The questionnaire was chosen to collect data for the research thanks to its advantages First, it helped the researcher to collect a large amount of information in a short duration of time Furthermore, the outcome collected from the questionnaire can be processed rather fast and conveniently (Gillham, 2000, cited in Hoang & Nguyen, 2007:18) Also, the multiple-choice questions made the unmotivated students to be more willing to answer The questionnaire was handed over

close-to the students in the class in the last week of the course To avoid any misunderstanding about the questionnaire, the researcher spent few minutes to explain the purpose of the questionnaire, the confidentiality of the participants in the survey and the terminologies which could be confusing to the students After the students had completed the survey, their answers were collected in the class

3.4.2 Interviews

Although the questionnaire is the quick way to collect a mass of data in a short amount of time, it would not provide detailed answers Therefore, to compensate for the disadvantage of the survey and to have a deep insight into the issue as well as to increase the validity and certainty of the outcomes and conclusion, the researcher used one more instrument, i.e interviews Six students were randomly chosen to participate

in the interviews

Unlike the survey, open-ended questions were chosen for the interviews and all

the interviews are semi-constructed since it enables the interviewees “power and

control” and the interviewer “a great deal of flexibility” (Hoang & Nguyen, 2007:52)

The data from the survey and interviews would be compared to give a detailed answer

for the research question As aforementioned, the qualitative method would be utilized

to analyze the data

The interviews were conducted in the week after the final week of the course Six randomly-chosen students were asked to join in the interviews The interviews were carried out in Vietnamese to avoid the students’ misunderstanding the questions Also, answering the questions in their mother tongue enables them to fully express their opinions

―no opinions‖/ ―agree‖/ ―strongly agree‖ would be calculated The data would be illustrated in percentages The frequency distributions of the percentages would be graphed

Furthermore, the average mean of each question would be calculated Five options in each item in the questionnaire are converted to the points as follows:

- Strongly agree: 5

- Agree: 4

- No opinions: 3

- Disagree: 2

- Strongly disagree: 1

The mean of each item will be the quotient of the sum of all options divided by 5

● Interviews

The interviews would be also inductively coded and categorized in term of the

three dimensions of learner autonomy The detailed answers of the students in the

interviews would be compared with the outcome from the questionnaire

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter presents the detailed results obtained from the data collected in the students’ weekly reflections, the self-assessment checklist, the self-reported questionnaire and the semi-structured interviews Additionally, the in-depth discussion

on the results would be brought up

To answer the research question ―To what extent does the use of portfolio writing enhance the first-year students’ learning autonomy at Foreign Language Department in university X?‖, the researcher categorized the collected data into the dimensions of learner autonomy which are mentioned in Chapter 2

4.1 Effects of portfolio writing on the students’ learning management

As mentioned in the Literature review, the learning management in learner autonomy includes observable behaviors involved in the planning, organization and evaluation of learning

4.1.1 Effects of portfolio writing on students’ planning and organizing

To begin with, at the beginning of the semester, the researcher presented clearly the general objectives of the course, the requirements and the skills/knowledge that students need to achieve after the writing course Afterwards, the students were required to list down their own goals in the course and reminded to stick to them Furthermore, students were asked to make their own timetable and reminded that they would have to submit their portfolio writing on time

The post-course questionnaire reveals the changes of the students’ habits and awareness in setting goals and planning As mentioned in the chapter 3, the questionnaire is a Likert-scale designed

Table 2: Students’ opinions on the effect of portfolio writing on planning and

organizing their learning

1 I can establish my own study

goals based on the requirements of

3 During the process of

completing the assignment each

week, I keep up with my

predetermined schedule

5% 22.5% 7.5% 32.5% 32.5% 2.35

4 After portfolio writing, I can

create a more practical studying

schedule for myself

15% 35% 5% 22.5% 22.5% 3.35

As can be seen in the above table, most of the means are quite high It shows that most of students choose the answers in the side ―agreement‖ of the question scale

Item 1: Goal setting

As can be seen in the table, most of the participants find that writing a portfolio during the course helped them a lot in enhancing their planning and organizing skills

The percentage of students who agree that they are able to establish their own goals from the course requirements nearly doubles the percentage of who disagree In the

interviews, Student A revealed that ―I have never participated in discussing or making

goals in my study with peers or teachers in my high school or lower level ones I just did what my teacher told me But since I studied here, after making goals, I felt I better

control my study and clearly know what I need to do to get the targets I really become more goal-oriented.” Other students in the interviews also shared the same idea with

the student A to some extent From the researcher’s observation, the students were still

inactive in making their goals Or they often set too broad targets such as “learning

English well”, “write well” and “get good scores” In the researcher’s opinion, they

need to have specific goals which comply with the curriculum’s goals The researcher found out that the participants who set specific goals alongside the whole goals often knew how to achieve and better focused on what they do Besides, they were more active in their study plan and got better scores Another reason for the improvement in setting goals is the students learning why they need to stick to the goals and then understand that pre-set goals are important to guide them to achieve the requirements

in the course Student B mentions a situation when he did not know the writing skills/knowledge for that lesson and wrote his essay in a wrong way and afterward, he

made a habit of identifying goals and following them in his learning He stated:

In week 9, we learnt about using time order words But in my writing, I did not use any of those words So, I was quite upset when I received your strict and brutal comments in front of our class But it becomes something unforgettable to me I always check the section “What I can do …” at the end of the lesson in the textbook to see whether I follow and get the goals in writing or not

Notably, in the students’ weekly reflections, they also mentioned the importance

of setting goals for each lesson in particular and their study in general A lot of the students pointed out the benefits of goal-oriented studying habit First, it helps them to better focus on what they need to do to achieve the required skills/knowledge in the writing class Secondly, they found that it helps them in other subjects, too The researcher observed that the goal box at the beginning and the check box at the end of the lesson in the textbook, the peer and teacher comments are useful in reminding the

students of understanding and following the goals Last but not least, a lot of students

in their reflections admitted that thanks to the goal-oriented mind, they stick more to the topics in the essays when they write The students often automatically check back

to the goal lists are making sure they achieved and wrote enough to get good scores in

portfolio writings They found that after checking that, they got “more positive

comments, especially from the teacher”, “better score in their writing particularly and

in other subjects in general”

Item 2, 3 and 4: Scheduling

In term of scheduling (Item 3), the collected data represent a surprising

outcome As can be seen in the table, the number of students chose options “Strongly

agree” and “Agree” equals to the ones who selected “Strongly disagree” and

“Disagree” However, in the next question (Item 4), when being asked whether they

strictly follow their timetable, a majority of the students failed to manage that Only approximately 30% of the students stated that they could keep up with their initial plan All of the interview participants revealed that they had difficulties in managing time to some extent Three of them could keep up with the predetermined plan until the around the midterm Two of them always struggled to finish the process of portfolio writing which includes writing the first version, commenting on their peers’ writing, receiving peers’ comment and writing the second version, submitting the second version and receiving general feedback from the teacher Only one of the interview participants said that she could keep until nearly the end of the semester However, she soon gave

up The reasons for this difficulty are poor time management and the overload of assignments and exams Noticeably, at the beginning of the semester, the students were full of energy and excited to learn Also, they did not have many assignments at that time Therefore, they could focus more on portfolio writing or still had enough time Nonetheless, from the midterm, with the coming exams and the increasing load of

assignments, the students had to reschedule their amount of time for studying and exam Therefore, they were distracted and failed to keep up with their initial plans Furthermore, the interviewees pointed out that since most of them now live on their own in rented rooms or university campus, they have to take care of their daily lives, which they had never done before when they were still high school students At that time, they had lived with their parents So technically, their parents took care of their food and the housework Therefore, time management for their daily life stuffs also affects their study plan Also, in the interviews, student F revealed that after submitting

a lot of essays late, she found out that her procrastination/ delaying caused her a lot of

troubles when she started to write She said “I sit down at my laptop early in the

evening, thinking that I would finish my writing that night Then, I opened the internet browser in my laptop and as a habit; I opened some familiar news, forum and social networking websites and just told myself that I would just read a little bit and then start

to write Uhm you know, and then one thing leads to another Finally, around midnight, I ended up doing nothing for my essay That’s the reason why I couldn’t keep

up with my plan” Notably, the result from the interviews and questionnaire complies

with what the researcher observed and read in the students’ weekly reflection In the reflection, a majority of the students often complained about how hard it is to submit the portfolio writing on time Obviously, they also pointed out the way they overcame

it such as rearranging their lives, better study plans, and better time management skills

Therefore, in the question about their planning skills (Item 4), more than half of the students thought that they could make a more practical plan now The rest of the questionnaire participants were still unconfident in developing a good plan In the students’ reflection, most of them admitted that they were trying to adapt to university environment and the amount of workload in higher education In the weekly reflections, most of the students thought that they should better plan their study and use time more logically to complete all the tasks on time In the interview, student F said